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Matchday 33 - Big Stories

vor 2 Stunden

VfB Stuttgart climbed out of the relegation zone for the first time since Matchday 19 after beating HSVFreiburg, meanwhile, boosted their hopes of survival with a shock victory over champions FC BayernGladbach booked their place in the group stages of next season's Champions League with a 2-0 victory at Bremen

Cologne - VfB Stuttgart, Hannover 96, Borussia Mönchengladbach, FC Schalke 04 and VfL Wolfsburg were the big winners on Matchday 33, but there is still much to be decided when the sides reconvene for one last time in 2014/15 next Saturday afternoon.

bundesliga.com recaps the main talking points from the penultimate round of fixtures in the league of the world champions...

Stuttgart celebrated as if they'd won the title at the close of play on Matchday 33 - and with good reason. The Swabian outfit's 2-1 win over fellow strugglers Hamburger SV lifted them out of the automatic relegation places for the first time since Matchday 19 with only one regulation league fixture left to play. If Huub Stevens' men can beat bottom club SC Paderborn 07 on the final day, they will be safe for another year.

A point better off in 15th are Hannover, who ended a 16-match winless run by seeing off Europa League hopefuls FC Augsburg to the tune of 2-1 at the SGL Arena. Michael Frontzeck's Lars Stindl-inspried ensemble can guarantee their place in next season's Bundesliga with victory at home to a SC Freiburg side that just beat champions fC Bayern München, but anything less could see them fall victim to the trapdoor, with all six teams from 13th down still fighting for survival.

At the other end of the spectrum, Mönchengladbach secured their place in the group stages of next season's UEFA Champions League courtesy of a deserved 2-0 success at SV Werder Bremen. Unbeaten in 13 and with an unassailable five-point lead over Bayer 04 Leverkusen, the Foals cannot be caught in third and can still claim the runners-up spot if they get the better of Augsburg and second-in-the-table VfL Wolfsburg simultaneously lose away to 1. FC Köln.

Schalke were the last side to beat Gladbach back on Matchday 20, but they've only won three since. Despite that below-par return, the Royal Blues stole a march on the likes of Augsburg, Borussia Dortmund and Bremen to book their place in next term's Europa League thanks to a last-gasp win over Paderborn. A point against Hamburg should be enough to secure direct passage to the group stages, but dropped points could force them into the qualifying rounds.

It has been a sensational season for ever-improving Wolfsburg, the foundation for which has been their stellar form at the Volkswagen Arena. Bayern can still match them in the points department on home soil, but even the champions have tasted defeat in front of their own fans this term. Not the Wolves: Saturday's 2-1 victory over Dortmund made it 17 not out for the DFB finalists, whose last home defeat in the league came against Bayern on 8 March 2014.

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